Blessings Far Greater Than I Could Have Imagined!

Kim, Debra, me and Biscuit...the Red, White and Blue Ladies! We didn't plan this either...it just happened...I didn't notice it until Kim pointed it out later in these pictures.

As many of you already know, my family just got back from our vacation to Florida. This was one of the top 5 vacations that we have ever taken...we made memories as a family and friends for life.

I have so much that I want to share so I am going to break it up over the week...don't want to bore you.

Kim from Homesteaders Heart opened her home, family and their hearts to us for 4 days at the beach. You try to imagine what someone would be like, sound like and how things will go but you never really know until you meet them. I am no different...the closer that we got to their home...the more nervous I became. I wasn't worried about liking them but was worried about them liking us.

We immediately felt a kindred spirit with them...we are all believers of Jesus Christ and that made us family before we became friends.

Monday...Debra from Clothed With Scarlet came down with her son, Josh to visit and meet us for the first time too. Kim's friend, Kathy also came over to go to the beach with us.

I couldn't have asked for anything more that what we had...we received the warmest welcome, a beautiful cottage to stay in, hospitality just oozes from Kim and Brad and it was like see old friends after being apart for awhile. They truly have the Spirit of Hospitality! Oh...the food was wonderful too...Kim is an awesome cook.

Our cottage in their back yard...it was cozy, beautifully perfect with a twist of privacy...little bit of heaven on the eastern Florida coast!

Proof that Roger dried the dishes after dinner that Kelsey washed. What an amazing young lady that Brad and Kim have...she is adorable, precious, sweet and her smile will light up the room.

4 days earlier...we were strangers and now...we are friends for life...we will be back...I promise!

I can't thank Brad and Kim enough for the enormous gesture of opening their hearts and home to a Sister in Christ that she has only know through blogging. God is so good and I am so thankful to have been given this opportunity.

Thank you for the memories that you help create for my family that will last a lifetime...precious memories, but more so...new friends...in real life...for all eternity!

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

Next: Meeting Lisa Shaw! What a joy!

Letter To My Readers

I want to let you know that I am back and will be back to posting on a "more" regular basis. I can't promise that it will be on a daily basis but it will be much better than I have over the past several months.

I hate that I have lost a vast majority of my readers due to several issues. Based on the number of comments that have been left and the number of visits per Sitemeter...I have lost you guys, hopefully, it was only temporary.

I feel those issues are the lack of posts that I have written on a regular basis, the re-running of my life story that lead me to begin blogging and the lack of following and commenting on your blogs. I have tried to do what I could with the amount of time that I have had available to do so but...it hasn't been good enough.

I am truly sorry that I have let down my readers over the past few months and I hope that you can forgive me.

I don't want to lose anyone of you because you are not just readers/followers to me but you are my friends.

I wrote this post to you all back in December '08 and it is as true today as it was then.

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So, my dear friends...both far and near, in everyday life and in the bloggy life...here's to each of you whether I have visited your blog once or dozens and whether you have been to mine today for the first time or the fiftieth...this is for you today, my friend.


Good friendships are like beautiful flowers...as they grow, they bring beauty and enjoyment into your life. I am thankful for the different varieties of fresh flowers in my daily bouquet. Each one is different and yet when they are all put together in my life...they make a complete arrangement of absolute beauty and joy. I love each and everyone of you.

Psalm 27:9 Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul. (Message)

Psalm 17:17 Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble. (Message)

Have a wonderfully blessed day!

~To All My Friends Both Far and Near~

I sent out a text message this morning, as I have many other times in the past, to my friends with words of encouragement and appreciation for our friendship.

However, this morning, I felt the Lord nudge me saying "your friends reach beyond your contact list in your cell phone" and "think about all the friends that you have in your everyday life that you might not be in there.". The nudging went further than that...He was also saying..."don't forget all of your new bloggy friends that I have met over the past 10 months and how valuable and special they have become to you".

So, my dear friends...both far and near, in everyday life and in the bloggy life...here's to each of you whether I have visited your blog once or dozens and whether you have been to mine today for the first time or the fiftieth...the same text that I sent out to my "daily" friends...this is for you today, my friend.


Good friendships are like beautiful flowers...as they grow, they bring beauty and enjoyment into your life. I am thankful for the different varieties of fresh flowers in my daily bouquet. Each one is different and yet when they are all put together in my life...they make a complete arrangement of absolute beauty and joy. I love each and everyone of you.


Psalm 27:9 Just as lotions and fragrance give sensual delight, a sweet friendship refreshes the soul. (Message)

Psalm 17:17 Friends love through all kinds of weather, and families stick together in all kinds of trouble. (Message)

Have a wonderful blessed day, my friend.

P.S. Please vote in my poll today...top right sidebar. I have 80 CHRISTmas cards to address and I have always handwritten each one because I use photo CHRISTmas cards and don't actually sign them. I had thought about labels and it has been suggested but...I just don't know if I can bring myself to do it or not. I need to see what others think. Thanks!!!!

Friends:)

Ok...on a much lighter note today...nothing spiritual or religious...just some humor! A friend sent this to me and I loved it...too good not to share especially since the subject of "FRIENDS" has been heavy on my heart over the past few months and I will be blogging more on the subject later.

BUT, this is a good way to view friendship and your friends...I hope my friends feel the same way about me! I just thought I was share this humor with you guys! Laughter and smiling is good for the soul:)

Are you tired of those sissy 'friendship' poems that always sound good, but never actually come close to reality?

Well, here is a series of promises that actually speak of true friendship. No, cute little smiley faces or dancing flowers...just the stone cold truth of a great friendship.

• When You Are Sad --I will jump on the person who made you sad like a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• When You Are Blue -- I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.
• When You Smile -- I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in.
• When You're Scared -- We will high tail it out of here.
• When You Are Worried -- I will tell you horrible stories about how much worse it could be until you quit whining, ya big baby!!!!
• When You Are Confused -- I will use little words.
• When You Are Sick --Stay away from me until you are well again. I don't want whatever you have.
• When You Fall -- I'll pick you up and dust you off.

This is my oath...I pledge it to the end. 'Why?' you may ask -- because you are my FRIEND! Friendship is like peeing in your pants, everyone can see it, but only you can feel the true warmth.

What Kind of Friend Are You?

Have you ever needed someone to talk to because something was bothering you? You needed someone to confide in? Have you ever needed someone that you could trust to listen, offer good, sound advice but most of all...keep your secret? I would think that we all have from time to time in our lives.

Just as I am sure that we all have been "burned" by a "friend" who went and blabbed our "secret" to someone else. We were hurt, humiliated, angry, left feeling vulnerable, violated and lonely.

As I have been reading and studying God's Word...God holds us to a very high standard. One that tells us to keep our mouths shut, watch what we say and to whom we say it to, keep our confidences and be people of integrity, choose our words carefully and to realize the power of the tongue...we can either help and heal or destroy and kill...JUST WITH OUR MOUTHS AND THE WORDS THAT WE ALLOW TO COME OUT OF IT! Wow...can we say....SELF CONTROL?

Proverbs 18:21
What you say can preserve life or destroy it; so you must accept the consequences of your words. (Good News)

The Bible is full of scriptures on our mouths, tongue, words...what to speak and what not to speak. God felt it was a very important lesson for us to learn...have we? Let's look at a few more verses.

Proverbs 11:2,3
(2)People who are proud will soon be disgraced. It is wiser to be modest. (3) If you are good, you are guided by honesty. People who can't be trusted are destroyed by their own dishonesty. (Good News)

Proverbs 11:12,13
(12)It is foolish to speak scornfully of others. If you are smart, you will keep quiet. (13) No one who gossips can be trusted with a secret, but you can put confidence in someone who is trustworthy. (Good News)

Proverbs 12:18
Thoughtless words can wound as deeply as any sword, but wisely spoken words can heal. (Good News)

Psalms 39: 1
I said, "I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will keep a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence." (New Revised Standard)

James 1:26
Do any of you think you are religious? If you do not control your tongue, your religion is worthless and you deceive yourself. (Good News)

We need to constantly be thinking about what is going to come out of our mouths BEFORE it comes out! I am a guilty as the next person of opening my mouth and inserting my foot...all the way up to my hip...but I have become more and more aware of my thoughts that I allow to become formed into words before they exit my mouth. I don't want to be guilty of my words cutting or to maim another person, a family member, my spouse, my child, my friend or someone who needed me to be there for them and to help them by encouraging them or lifting them up...not tearing them down. This can be done directly in our words we speak to them or by what we say behind their back...gossip, betrayal of their trust...

I looked up "maim" in my thesaurus and these are some other words that might bring a newer, more visual meaning to that word:

• batter
• cripple
• deface
• disable
• disfigure
• injure
• lacerate
• mangle
• maul
• massacre
• mutilate

Do you want to be guilty of doing this to another person? I certainly don't. Let's all make a commitment today to watch our words carefully BEFORE they come out of our mouths. Put your brain in gear before you put your mouth in gear! Also, to be a trustworthy friend to someone to confides in you. Your betrayal can do as much damage if not more to that person when you break that confidence than if you were to speak nasty, mean words directly to their face. You might cause more damage because you will have destroyed their trust in you and possibly others they would have confided in...in the future. Sometimes, we will never know the damage that our words and actions have on the other person because they may never let you know...but the damage is still very much alive and real to them...it runs very deep too.

I have to say that God has blessed me with a number of awesome, trustworthy friends that I can go to in a time of need...some just listen and let me talk, others offer advice, some just give you a hug and tell you that they love you and are praying for you. Each one is unique and I am tremendously blessed to have each one of you in my life....thanks for being the type of friend that God has called you to be.